"Is app TV the future of television?"

Episode #5 of CE4K saw the team discuss Disney's throwing of their hat into the streaming arena with Disney+.  During the discussion, the question is posed "Is app TV the future of television?"  Thinking about it, the answer we imagine is a definitive 'yes', and while there are no doubt benefits to that, there are potentially a few downsides.

The positives though - no more waiting seven days for the next episode is clearly a good thing.  The idea of being able to binge complete a complete series in one, albeit epic, session is absolute bliss.  But the pacing of those catch-up conversations with friends and colleagues as you each discuss and dissect episodes one-by-one become non-existent.  Now those conversations can become incredibly frustrating as you have to wait for others to catch up to where you are so you can finally have the unfiltered and unhindered conversation discussing the complete work.  That latter point though is steeped in the type of nostalgia we've come to celebrate on this site.

Another perhaps daunting prospect of the app TV era is the sheer volume of services available.  This was often described as "the golden era of television" when in actuality it's more like the "triple platinum era".  Each TV app seems to lay claim to a new clutch of A-list, multi-million dollar production shows - who can genuinely, not only afford to subscribe to each of them, but make the time to watch this amount?  (While the last question, regarding the time, was rhetorical, the fact that these services can also be streamed through laptops, tablets and mobiles certainly ensures we have all the time in the world.)

While these streaming services offer the ultimate it terms of comfort, convenience and limitless choice, there's something about about those proverbial water cooler moments as the experience of these shows was something to be shared collectively as opposed to becoming more solitary experiences.